The Wall is a claustrophobic and tense thriller that dares to be unpatriotic

Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s stars as US soldier Sergeant Isaac pinned down by a sniper

By Jamie East

28th July 2017, 12:24 am

Updated: 28th July 2017, 12:25 am

The Wall

(15) 88 mins

Amazon Studios

Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s US soldier Sergeant Isaac in The Wall

IF you saw Colin Farrell’s Phone Booth, the plot of this psychological thriller will ring a bell.

A man is pinned down by a sniper who has a hotline to his tormentor.

In this case it is Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s US soldier Sergeant Isaac who will get a sharpshooter’s bullet between the eyes if he strays from behind a flimsy wall in the Iraq desert.

Patching into his radio frequency is an enemy sniper with a desire to get to know his prey a little better.

Understandably, Isaac isn’t so keen to get pally with the man who just put a bullet in his knee and much of the conversation is a string of insults.

Brit Taylor-Johnson is on screen almost the whole time, proving he has the chops to carry a movie.

Amazon Studios

US sniper is pinned down by an adversary who can communicate with him

He yells, swears, puffs, swears, screams and swears again like a trooper. Bourne Identity director Doug Liman should be commended for making a film which dares to be unpatriotic.

It could have been titled Iraqi Sniper . . . something guaranteed never to get an Oscar. But while Liman does a great job of ratcheting up the tension, The Wall feels only slightly more realistic than the one Donald Trump claims he is going to build.

★★★★☆

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